


Starting Over

by arowenevenstar



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 05:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1846204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arowenevenstar/pseuds/arowenevenstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two girls move to Beacon Hills around the same time. One is Derek's human, little sister, Elle, and the other is Stiles' older cousin, Lizzy. They're just trying to make it through high school while dealing with a supernatural world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a piece of FanFiction that alternates between two characters that I made up. I've never written anything like this before, so I have no idea where it's going, but I'm going to try and finish it. I'm actually a writer, and I'm working on a book at the moment, but sometimes I just need to write freely and purely for fun, so this is purely for fun and is probably going to be a little fluff! One of my friends suggested that I put it on here, so voila! Here it is! Hope you enjoy it.

Elle couldn’t say that she was the sort of person that fit into society seamlessly, but there did seem to be a certain amount of invisibility that she could maintain which meant that she was somewhat normal right? In high school, she was that really quiet girl that the jocks only talked to if they had a question that they couldn’t answer…she wasn’t a nerd-nerd, like a member of the chess club or the debate team, but there was a 99.9% chance that she knew the answer usually. She didn’t care much about the jocks though – well she did one, but he wasn’t a jock-jock. He was more of a bench-warmer jock. His name was Stiles Stilinski – which was not his given name. She still didn’t know his given name, but she did know that his GPA was up there with hers and the girl of his dreams – Lydia Martin.

The reason Elle hated her guts wasn’t personal or anything. It was just more of a…annoyance. She was dating Jackson Whitmore, the king of assholes. He picked on Stiles all the time, and if she didn’t think Stiles would hate her for it, she would have totally stood up for him. Not a thing that anyone would think was plausible around here, but if she wished, she could get Jackson Whitmore into a very compromising position. It was tempting to break Jackson’s ego in general, but she liked Stiles enough not to say anything. Not that she’s said anything to him period. She blamed her lack of social skills on her family moving around so much during her prime socializing years. Her sister Laura, her brother Derek, and she moved away when she was still pretty young. No one recognized her, when Laura and she had moved back out here awhile back. Derek had managed to stay in New York. He refused to come back, even when weird werewolf signs had started showing up. Oh right, Elle came from a family of werewolves – the Hales.

Laura was the alpha of their pack and was responsible for Derek and her, until she didn’t come home. Elle called Derek at that point terrified out of her mind. He came as quickly as he could, because she couldn’t find Laura, because she’s human unlike her other two siblings. Their father was human, while their mother was a werewolf, and that gave each of them about a 95% chance of being a werewolf and, therefore, a 5% chance of being human. That 5% is pretty much where she has lived the majority of her life. For instance, do people know that there is a 5% chance that someone’s family home will catch on fire? Now the chances of that fire almost wiping out that person’s entire family, other than those at school, part isn’t part of the 5% but still – true story. Laura was in college at that point, Derek in high school, and she was in elementary school, sixth grade to be exact. That was when her entire life changed. They began to move A LOT, almost every six months for the last three years, that was, until the werewolf stuff started showing up. Laura didn’t feel that anywhere was like home, and Derek refused to go home, so they kept moving in attempts to make both of them happy, because Laura couldn’t bear for the family to be apart. Somehow Elle managed to still ace her classes despite all the moving.

So here she was back in Beacon Hills another family member short. Derek had found Laura’s body a couple of days before and buried the part that he found. Unfortunately, the cops had already found the other half. On top of that, she almost felt that she’d lost Derek. He was angry at the world. And she was too distraught to care, so she buried herself in her school work, kept her head down, and kept an eye on Stiles Stilinski, because he was the last thing Laura and her ever talked about. The last happy conversation she’d had in ages it felt like.

“Miss. Eleanor Hale, can you tell me what the relevance of the title Pride and Prejudice is to the book?”

She didn’t even bother to look up, as she answered the question with, “Mr. Darcy sees Elizabeth as having pride as her fault, and Elizabeth sees Mr. Darcy as being prejudice against poor people, when, in fact, it is actually the opposite. Mr. Darcy is the proud one, and Elizabeth has a prejudice against rich people. It’s the way they see each other.”

The teacher sighed in frustration at having not caught her off guard. He wished to humiliate her in front of her peers to prove a point about paying attention, as she spent most of her class time sketching and scribbling down new recipes. Her teacher failed to realize that she did pay attention, even though she didn’t always have her eyes on the board.

“Correct, Miss Hale,” he admitted begrudgingly.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class, and she was, as always, the first person out of the door, as she chose her seat in class not based on whether or not it was in the back of the class or closest to the window but rather on proximity to the exit and the fact that it had a direct view of the clock. Almost every day, she was already half way out of her seat by the time the bell rang. Plus her bag was always already packed to go home before her last class, so she could go straight to the parking lot. The moment she sat in her convertible, 1965 Ford Mustang, which was by far her favorite present that Laura ever bought her, she took what felt like her first breath of the day, but she guessed that she wasn’t the only one in a rush to get home. Because when she started backing out, a Porsche nearly collided with her rear. Jackson Whitmore was sitting behind the wheel and honking his horn at her. Elle couldn’t say that she was particularly proud of this moment in her life.

The next thing she knew, she put her car in neutral, pulled the parking break, and got out of the car. She made her way to the silver car behind her and found herself acting like her brother for the first time in her life. Elle always looked most like him with her light mocha skin, her green eyes and her dark hair, except that she has breasts, curves and a very petite form whereas he has muscles, big shoulders and a rather large frame, but she always acted more like Laura before their parent’s died: outgoing, sweet, loud and always laughing. Ever since their parent’s death, she had been acting more and more like Derek with every passing day: broody, inconsolable, and pissed off at the world. But this was the first time she had ever taken her aggression out on someone.

“So tell me, do you enjoy acting like the biggest asshole in the world? Or do you just act like a complete asshole to cover up for your insecurity about the fact that you’re adopted?” It all came out before she could take it back, and the entire school watched as Jackson got out of his car. There went her invisibility status.

“What did you say to me?” Jackson yelled. She could tell that he had never had a woman talk to him like this before other than Lydia, and even then, she highly doubted she was that brutal.

“Is the poor little rich boy insulted?” she taunted.

Jackson locked his jaw and pushed her slightly. There was one hit. She noted in her head. “Who the hell are you?!” he screamed.

“Like you care,” she replied with a smirk. He shoved her again until she was almost backed into her car, and she found herself smirking. That’s two.

Jackson looked as if his blood was boiling, and he spat, “Bitch, you will not talk to me like that! Do you even know who I am?”

She sighed and said, “You’re Jackson Whitmore, Captain of the Lacrosse team. You’re dating Lydia Martin and think you own the school, and you’re adopted which drives you crazy with this need to prove yourself worthy of being loved or some shit like that. And you take out your insecurity on everyone else. You’re such a hard person to figure out. Tell me does it hurt to be so painfully predictable?” This time he pushed her into the car and that made three. Elle punched him in the jaw, and he went flying to the ground.

She informed him, “In the United States, being hit three times gives you the right to hit back in self-defense. Don’t put your fucking grubby hands on me EVER again. You spoiled brat!”

With that performance, she got in her car and drove away, leaving Jackson Whitmore sprawled across the ground in front of his precious Porsche. Once again, she’d like to state that this was a moment in her life that she was not proud of…well maybe slightly. Laura would have skinned her alive for that behavior, but according to the law, she had every right to do it. By the time she pulled into the drive-way, Derek was standing on the porch waiting for her. She grumbled something about how technology sucks, but she found herself wishing that she could curl up in a ball in the nearest corner and die. Plus the next thing she knew….there were red and blue lights behind her. She slammed her head into the wheel, but quickly gathered her things and got out of the car, like she normally would, and found herself face to face with Sheriff Stilinski – Stiles’ father.

“Hello Sheriff, how can I be of service?” she asked innocently.

He looked straight into her eyes as he stated, “First, I wanted to ask if you’re okay.”

“I’m still slightly shaken up, but nothing I won’t recover from. Surely, you didn’t come here to just check on me,” she answered.

“Clearly there won’t be charges placed against you. There was a whole crowd and cameras in that parking lot that all recorded Jackson Whitmore attacking you. No matter what words were exchanged. His behavior was unacceptable. The Whitmore’s wanted me to find out if you are planning to press charges.” Elle smirked slightly and turned to Derek.

“We won’t be pressing charges. As I heard it, Elle seems to have taken care of the situation herself. Although if it does happen again, there will be charges pressed.”

The sheriff nodded his head and mumbled, “A pleasure sir, miss. I’ll be sure to pass on the information.”

Derek nodded his head at the sheriff and motioned for her to come to him. She made her way up to her brother, and he wrapped a protective arm around her, as they made our way into the house. Clutching onto his shirt, she began to cry, and Derek just held her and stroked her hair. He whispered that everything was going to be okay and that he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. She nodded her head against his shoulder, and he kissed the top of her head.

“I love you. You know that right?” she muttered.

He grunted and said, “Not that I deserve it.”

Elle looked up into his eyes and smiled, as she told him, “Don’t make me do to you what I did to Jackson Whitmore today.”

“I hear it was quite the punch,” he replied while moving a strand of hair out of her eyes.

“It was, if I do say so myself. He hit the pavement immediately, although this means my invisibility status is officially revoked.”

“I’m proud of you,” Derek stated.

She found herself looking up into his eyes again with confusion and asked, “Why?”

“Because you stood up for yourself and that isn’t an easy thing to do. As for the invisibility thing, isn’t this the point in the conversation where Laura would tell you that you’re way too pretty to be invisible, and how you need to put on some make-up and a mini skirt?”

A chuckle escaped her throat, and she answered, “She would have said something along those lines. I’m sure she would have gone on and on about how we could go shopping for tomorrow, how she could do my hair and make-up, and how to get Stiles to notice me – “

She stopped talking immediately and blushed. There was an awkward moment of silence, where it sunk in that they were talking about Laura. Derek raised an eyebrow and changed the subject, “So my baby sister is after the Sheriff’s son, who knew?”

“Yeah well it isn’t going to happen because Stiles has only had his eyes on Lydia Martin since third grade,” she sneered.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say that someone is jealous.”

Elle ripped herself from his grip and said, “Not jealous. She just doesn’t deserve him, especially when she insists on dating that pig – Jackson Whitmore.”

“Have you tried talking to this Stiles?”

Blood rushed to her cheeks, as she answered, “No, I haven’t.”

“Then talk to him. How is this boy supposed to know you exist, if you don’t talk to him?”

She sighed and told him, “Well he definitely knows I exist now. I’m not sure if I’m going to get fruit thrown at my head or a standing ovation tomorrow.”

“Eh if the fruit thing happens, I’ll just send you to boarding school,” he replied with a smirk. She punched him in the shoulder and smiled slightly.

Derek told her, “You just keep your head up tomorrow, okay?”

She nodded, and he continued, “Now I’m going out. I think the Alpha that killed Laura has made a new werewolf. Do you know anything about Scott McCall?”

“He’s Stiles’ best friend,” she answered.

Derek just gave her a look and said, “Of course he is.”

“It’s not your fault, you know that right?” She told him before she could stop the words from exiting her mouth.

He sighed, gave her a look, and opened his mouth to argue, but her face fell, and she stated, “Just go.”

Derek swallowed and nodded. Elle headed upstairs to her room and shut the door behind her as tears filled her eyes for the second time that day. By violently swiping at her eyes, she attempted to prevent the tears from falling. Let’s be honest, Laura’s death was her fault. If she weren’t born human, she probably could have helped her. She felt an urge to destroy everything closest to her, but she ignored it and started looking through her closet. There was a section of clothes that she never wore, and those were the clothes that Laura bought her. Laura’s taste was very different from hers: where she’d prefer to be in jeans, converse and a hoodie; Laura preferred tight, shimmery shirts, heels and a perfect mini skirt. In the end, she had the black leather jacket Derek had bought her on her arm; a short, emerald-green dress; and a pair of black heels. After she picked out her clothes for tomorrow, she found herself in bed.

The next morning made her groan. She didn’t want to go to school. Maybe she should take Derek up on that boarding school offer. 'You are my baby sister, and you aren’t running away. You’re better than that,' she heard Laura saying in the back of her mind. Then, without her consent, her body started to move. It placed the clothes on her body, fixed her hair, brushed on her make-up, and slipped on the heels.

“I think that outfit deserves the Camaro,” Derek told her with a smirk.

She laughed and questioned, “Are you serious?”

“Very,” he replied as he held out his keys to her.

Her jaw dropped, and then she squealed. She hadn’t squealed or smiled like this in weeks. It’s like life was going on, and she guessed it kind of was. After swiping the keys and jumping on her brother, she made her way to school. As she pulled into the school parking lot, she blasted “Do You Wanna Touch Me?” by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. She’s pretty sure Derek would be having a small stroke now, if he knew that she was blasting this song in his car. Elle, on the other hand, took one large breath in and let it out. Before she knew it, her wrist snapped and turned the ignition off. Gathering her things, she got out of the car. When she entered the building, all eyes were on her. She moved her sunglasses to the top of her head and winked at Stiles as she walked by. He was gawking at her. Lydia was on the other side of the hall, and he was looking at her. In response, she smirked and continued walking. Maybe this would be a good day. In English class, she listened as Stiles and Scott talked.

“Isn’t she Derek Hale’s sister?” Scott asked.

Stiles nodded and paled slightly. Scott cracked up laughing and replied, “You are so screwed! You’re going to get your ass kicked.”

Stiles said, “Pfff as if she couldn’t do that herself if she wanted to! You saw how she took down Jackson.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Stiles finished with, “It was so HOTT!!!!”

Elle could practically hear Scott rolling his eyes. “Don’t roll your eyes at me Scott! She winked at me in the hall! WINKED! At me!!!” Stiles exclaimed.

Scott coughed slightly and responded, “Are you sure there wasn’t just something in her eye?”

Stiles nearly growled, and her body trembled slightly. What was this adorable, bean-poll of a boy doing to her? This time she interrupted, “If you two don’t mind, I’m trying to listen to Mr. Galentine’s lecture about Jane Austen, so I’m going to clear up this little argument. Yes, I winked at you Stiles, and if you find me so attractive, why don’t you ask me out?”

And the bell rang. She couldn’t have timed it more perfectly, because Stiles and Scott were sitting there staring at her with their mouths open. She turned and left the room with a devilish expression on her face.


	2. Chapter 2

Even after five minutes, Stiles continued talking their ears off about this girl named Elle, and how she had punched Jackson in the face and how hot it was. Lizzy could only roll her eyes when she met Scott’s eyes in the mirror, as they pulled into the high school parking lot. There was no way that she would be here if she had a choice, but her uncle had said that she needed to socialize and to get to know kids her own age. Whatever, she had everything she needed: her uncle, her cousin that was practically a little brother, and her car. Everything else didn’t matter.

“Lizzy, are you even listening to me?!” Stiles wailed.

“Yes Stiles. There’s some super-hot chick that punched Jackson in the face, and she’s even more awesome than Lydia ever thought about being. She may even be your soulmate. Blah. Blah. Blah,” she answered, and the next thing she knew, a punch collided with her shoulder, and she just smirked. Scott and she shared a high five.

“You’re both evil,” Stiles muttered under his breath.

“You wouldn’t have us any other way,” she said in a sing-song voice.

Lizzy grabbed her messenger bag off the floor and popped open the door to the jeep. They walked into the building side-by-side, and she glared at Lydia as they passed her. As they were standing at Stiles’ locker, a girl walked in and made quite the entrance to the school. Based on Stiles’ reaction, it was the girl that he’d fallen completely in love with, and it only got worse after she winked at him. He sputtered and nearly started choking.

Lizzy just hit his back a little and replied, “Get a grip on yourself.”

“Did you see that?!”

She just rolled her eyes at him and headed toward the office. After all, she was a professional new student. She’d never stayed anywhere for more than a year, since she was eight. It was nice in some ways, bad in others. It certainly hadn’t helped her social skills, and it left her a lot of time for reading, which is the only way she managed to maintain her GPA. Plus her habit of reading textbooks from cover to cover probably didn’t hurt either. It’s not like she had anything better to do, and it’s not like they had money for extra books, so she read whatever she could get her hands on. She literally couldn’t afford to be picky.

“Miss Stilinski?” the secretary questioned in such a way that indicated that she already knew the answer. Who hadn’t heard of the Sheriff’s infamous sister and her illegitimate baby? They whispered rumors about who her father was until the day she and her mother left town, and now that she was back, and more developed, she was sure it would start all over again – small town people.

“The one and only,” she answered in a gruff tone.

After first bell rang, she finally had her schedule for her senior year ready. When she left the office, she passed by Elle, and the next thing she knew, she was grabbing Elle’s arm and dragging her into the women’s bathroom.

“What do you want?” Elle snarled.

“I want you not to screw around with Stiles,” Lizzy replied in a clipped tone.

“It’s not like he’s your boyfriend. What do you care?” she challenged.

“He’s my cousin! And he’s finally not hung up on Lydia anymore, but I swear if you stomp on him the same way she has, especially when you’re winking at him in the hallway and encouraging him, then I’ll hit you so hard your daddy will be feeling it.”

“Well that’ll take quite the hit since my daddy’s dead,” she snapped.

“Sorry,” Lizzy reluctantly muttered at the insistence of her stomach that was twisting in guilt.

Elle deflated slightly and answered, “Thanks.”

After a moment of silence, Elle told her in a quiet voice, “You don’t have to worry about my intentions with Stiles. I’ve been after him as long as he’s been after Lydia.”

“Seriously?” Lizzy asked flabbergasted.

When she nodded, Lizzy just started laughing. Elle looked like she was going to hit her, and Lizzy felt bad.

“Sorry, it’s nothing against you. It’s just that Stiles has complained for years about how ‘no one likes him.’ I’d argue with him that there was bound to be someone who saw how great he was, even in this small town. He’d deny it and say it was easier to keep pining after Lydia. Honestly, I’m just glad someone appreciates him. He’s like my brother you know, and I always hated that crestfallen look on his face.”

“No more crestfallen looks if I can help it,” she mumbled and blushed.

It was so cute that Lizzy had to look away. She couldn’t even remember the last time she felt that way. Scratch that. That would be never.

“Would you like to come over, hang out with me, and torment Stiles? I’m sure he hasn’t made a move yet.”

The smile on her face wiped away any doubts Lizzy still had about her. Elle would be good for him. She decided and then gave Elle her number. After they left the bathroom, Elle walked Lizzy to her next class and said that she’d only been here a couple of months herself. They discussed the places that they’d lived and which were their favorites. In that moment, Lizzy bonded more with Elle than she had with any other human being that wasn’t family, but she got the overwhelming feeling that it was mutual. Until lunch, she went through all the motions that high school required. She answered questions, listened to lectures, jotted down notes, and ignored everyone. A regular day in her life as far as school was concerned.

Lizzy moved through the cafeteria with the lunch that Stiles had packed for her, and she was already wondering what was in the bag. It was a sizable lunchbox, and she’d only gotten a glance at the Sheriff’s lunch, but she was pretty sure it was a salad, an apple, and a handful of nuts. If so, she didn’t mind, but the Sheriff’s face was priceless. He seemed to hope for a different result no matter how many times Stiles had packed his lunch. She caught a glimpse of Elle in the crowd and headed her way.

“So I just realized that we never actually introduced ourselves to each other. I’m Elizabeth, but people call me Lizzy,” she started.

Elle smiled and stated, “Eleanor, but people call me Elle.”

Lizzy snorted at her wording but said, “Nice to meet you Elle. Now let’s see if my cousin sits down next to me without noticing you. Then he’ll nearly choke on his food when he notices you. It’ll make my day.”

Elle just rolled her eyes but smiled at the idea, and as foretold, Scott sat down next to Elle and across from Stiles, who had just plopped down in the seat next to Lizzy, rambling about how Coach Finstock had called him Bilinski again. When his eyes found Elle, he choked immediately.

Lizzy just casually slapped his back, as she informed him, “This is Elle. She’s coming over tonight to hang out with me.”

Stiles just gaped at Lizzy, and she could tell Scott was hiding a smirk behind his hand.

“But…but…how did you two even meet?” he managed to get out finally.

“It was in the girl’s bathroom, and you said that you thought the way I did my hair today was pretty, and then I walked you to your first class. That’s about it right?” Elle replied.

“All the significant details,” Lizzy confirmed.

He continued to open and close his mouth in shock while Lizzy acknowledged Scott’s presence.

“Anyway, this is Stiles and this is Scott. Speaking of Scott, how are you? I hope Stiles here hasn’t gotten you into too much trouble.”

“Eh, no more than usual,” he responded with mirth in his eyes.

“So would you be okay with coming over after school to keep poor Stiles company?” Lizzy asked in a sweet voice.

He responded, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Elle finally cut in with, “I have to drop off the Camaro with my brother. He was letting me borrow it, so we could go to your house after we drop off his car and pick up mine.”

“Sure, that sounds perfect!” Lizzy exclaimed and winked at Elle.


	3. Chapter 3

Elle met up with Lizzy after the last bell rang, and they laughed as they ducked into the Camaro. They chuckled and chatted, and for the first time, both girls felt their age. Elle then turned up the music when it felt like there was nothing left to say and started singing at the top of her lungs. Lizzy sang with her, and they started to dance, despite being restricted by the seats, the seatbelts, and in Elle’s case, the steering wheel. As they pulled up, Elle noticed that her car was still parked outside of the building, and instantly, she started thinking about how Derek would react to Lizzy. He didn’t like strangers, but he might be happy that she had made a friend. Lizzy must have noticed her hesitation, because she asked, “What’s wrong?”

“My brother is a bit weird about strangers. He tends to scare people. I promise –”

“Do you always talk this much?” she questioned, and when Elle didn’t respond right away, she continued with, “You are so meant to be with Stiles.”

Elle blushed and glared simultaneously, and Lizzy just laughed.

“I’ll be fine. Your brother is no scarier than some of my mother’s boyfriends,” she declared and with that got out of the car.

Elle hesitated for a moment and then shrugged. Whatever. Her funeral. When they finally stumbled into the apartment, they found Elle’s brother sitting on the couch with a book in his hands. He looked pissed which he always looked that way, but when Lizzy seemed unaffected, he grew, if Elle was not mistaken, interested. Unlike her other siblings who had the luxury of picking up emotions by smell, Elle had to learn the intricacies of body language. Her father was the only person that was able to sympathize, and when she lost him, it became her only way to understand her siblings, especially Derek, and now he was the only sibling that she had left. Of course, he was able to pick up on things about Lizzy that she wasn’t.

Lizzy’s blown pupils, flared nostrils, and unwavering gaze told Elle that Lizzy found her brother attractive, but based on her tense, controlled gestures, she had no intentions of acting on it. Honestly, it was like watching a tennis match with a ball that’s invisible to the audience. Elle couldn’t totally understand what they’re reacting to, but she could see how they were reacting. Based on his raised brow and quivering lips, as if he was attempting not to smirk, it was definitely intriguing her brother that Lizzy wasn’t even attempting to flirt with him, despite the blush that dusted her cheeks when he approached. Her pursed lips and raised chin spoke a certain level of defiance.

“Hey Derek, this is my new friend Lizzy. Lizzy, this is my brother Derek,” Elle introduced, and neither of them made a move to offer a hand to one another. In fact, they seemed to be trying to intimidate each other with their stiff nods of acknowledgement, as if it was the only way that they knew how to communicate, but Elle guessed that she met Lizzy that way.

“Well thanks for making this completely not awkward.” Elle stated, emitted a little coughing noise, and then continued with, “Here are your keys. Thank you for letting me borrow the Camaro. I’m going to go over to her house.”

“And whose house would that be exactly?” Derek asked in a rather cold tone.

“The Sheriff’s,” Lizzy answered in a tone that begged for challenge.

Derek took a step closer and so did Lizzy, but Elle jumped in between them and exclaimed, “So this has been fun. Derek, I’ll text you. Lizzy, let’s go.”

Elle shoved Lizzy out of the door and threw Derek a glare from over her shoulder. After they made it to Elle’s car, she rested her forehead against the steering wheel.

“So that’s your brother,” Lizzy stated.

Elle just glanced over at her and questioned, “What about him?”

She shrugged and nonchalantly answered, “I liked him.”

Elle couldn’t help the slack jawed expression that crossed her features after bearing witness to that display in there.

“Oh clearly,” she retorted.

“I’m serious,” Lizzy replied with a very serious expression on her face.

“Well I can see why, he’s a ball of fun that one,” Elle snarked back.

Lizzy just snorted and told her, “He was protecting you, and he asked where you were going. There’s nothing wrong with a caring sibling.”

“That’s what you got from that…standoff?!” This girl seemed like she’d grown up with werewolves. Humans weren’t accustomed to werewolf behavior or generally able to pick up on their intentions. Generally, humans found behavior like her brother’s unnerving, unless they were a human that grew up in a pack. That was very interesting. Just what all had Lizzy seen in her travels?


	4. Chapter 4

Lizzy couldn’t seem to get Elle’s brother – Derek – off her mind no matter what she tried: the way that he moved with his shoulders slightly hunched, as if he was carrying around too much weight; the way that his eyes met hers, so wary and full of guilt; or the way that his features softened after he realized her intentions, as if he trusted her just that little bit, and somehow, she knew how much that meant and how infrequently that trust was given. It made her wonder what had nearly broken this strong man, and she knew he was every bit as strong as her uncle, if not stronger, so why was he so broken? Suddenly, she remembered that something had happened with the Hales, but she’d been long gone, traveling with her mother from town to town with the boyfriend of the month, so the details were unknown to her. All she really remembered was that they had nearly lost their entire family in a fire and that there were only four known survivors, but she couldn’t name them if her life depended on it. Clearly, they weren’t here now for whatever reason, so they weren’t important.

Her eyes moved over to Elle, and she thought about how great of a couple she and Stiles would make when he finally got his head out of the clouds. She was every bit as isolated as Stiles was due to his father’s hours and his limited number of friends. Probably every bit as touch starved as well, as she didn’t imagine that Derek went around hugging people a lot, even if he secretly wanted to do it. For a moment, she allowed herself to get lost in the fantasy of being with him. He wouldn’t judge her for her past. After all, his past was probably far heftier than hers, but still, she…had baggage, serious baggage herself.

She sighed.

Why was she doing this to herself? There was no way that Derek Hale was going to just open up to her, even though he did seem intrigued by her in the apartment. He seemed so surprised that even though she was aesthetically attracted to him – because come on, just look at the man –, she had no intention of acting on it. She recognized that look in his eye - the all-encompassing fear that only comes from being taken advantage of by someone that you trusted implicitly. There had been men in her life that found her attractive for reasons that were beyond her, but they had, and they had taken advantage of the trust that she had in them. Then there had been the entire football team in a small town that harassed her every day, grabbing what parts of her body that they could and making implications about exactly what they wanted to do with them.

The point was that the guarded expression on his face was what she couldn’t get out of her head. It was both sickening and soul-crushing, as if he wanted nothing more than for someone to care about him, but he was terrified of the consequences. No, there was no going after Derek, but she could be his friend. She could prove to him that he deserved nice things, because he did. Lizzy just had feelings about people, and Derek didn’t give her any bad ones. He instead made her want to wrap her arms around him and never let go, which no one except her family and small children had had the ability to make her feel that way, so it must be that that caught her eye about him. Men just generally don’t interest her. They were generally boring, controlling or only interested in sex, and she had no interest in being in a relationship with any man that had even one of those traits. Derek wasn’t like that. She just knew.

After they pulled up to what Lizzy now call _home_ , which that word still tasted funny on her tongue, she emptied her mind of her thoughts. Instead, she watched as Stiles peeked out from behind the living room curtains, as if she couldn’t see him – dork, like she wouldn’t be watching for him. Let’s hope that he hadn’t gotten some outrageous gift that a boyfriend wouldn’t give his serious girlfriend much less a potential boyfriend. It wasn’t as if he’d had much time to prepare anything too outrageous. When the girls got out of the car, she threw a smirk Elle’s way and led her through the front door. Scott was sprawled across the floor, munching on a twizzler, like nothing was happening, and playing video games. He didn’t even seem to notice that he was shooting Stiles’ character without any resistance. Meanwhile, Stiles was just gawking at Elle like she couldn’t see him. Lizzy promptly snuck up behind him and whacked him upside the head. It was a nice sisterly action in her opinion.

“Ow,” he complained as he rubbed the spot sullenly.

Lizzy couldn’t help her eye roll or her response, “Elle and I were just going to change into our baby dolls and have a pillow fight upstairs. You’re welcome to join us.”

Stiles’s jaw hit the floor, and she couldn’t have held back her laughter if she’d tried. Elle, on the other hand, blushed and hit Lizzy in the arm. Lizzy just shrugged. It was too good to pass up.

“You’ll pay for that,” Elle promised Lizzy under her breath.

“Yeah right. Who could you possibly embarrass me like that in front of?”

“My brother.”

Lizzy’s cheeks grew a little pink at the implication, but she stuck to her guns and responded with, “I simply respect him, and if I find him attractive, like he doesn’t already know.”

Elle seemed to raise a brow at that, but Lizzy just led her upstairs.


	5. Chapter 5

The house looked as if it had once known a woman’s touch with the mostly coordinating furniture and the general décor, but there were hints that a woman hadn’t been in this house for a long time. There were stains on the carpet, dust-covered candlesticks on the fireplace, rips in the fabric covering the couch, and other various visual clues. Elle knew that Stiles had lost his mom around the time that she had lost her entire family, but it was weird to her that this almost served as a constant reminder. There was nothing left to remind her of her family, while Stiles was living in the remnants of his mother’s life.

In that moment, she began to wonder which was worse, having no trace of them left or having everything in the exact same place, as if she was coming back tomorrow. She glimpsed at the door at the end of the hallway that most likely contained the master’s bedroom and wondered if she would find all of his mother’s old things. Lizzy led her into a mostly empty bedroom with an open duffle bag on the floor, and it really reminded her instantly of her brother. Derek never added anything to anywhere that they had stayed. Laura would buy a thousand decorations to try and make the new place homey, but it never worked. Nowhere was ever truly home, and Elle wondered if Lizzy was the same way. She wondered if she didn’t think anywhere was home.

“It isn’t much, but it’s – a bed to sleep in,” Lizzy interrupted Elle’s thoughts and inadvertently answered her question.

Elle continued to inspect the room until the corner of a painting caught her eye. Her curiosity must have taken possession of her body, because the next thing she knew she was making a beeline for the sheet covering it. Before Lizzy could stop her, Elle had ripped the sheet away. A whine escaped Lizzy’s throat, as a gasp escaped Elle’s. There, peeking out from behind a red hood, was Lizzy’s face. Everything was dead on from her full lips to her prominent nose that lead up to her green-grey eyes. That wasn’t the most shocking part though, there was a huge, black wolf with blazing blue eyes wrapped around Lizzy’s body, and, for some reason, it instantly made her think of her brother. The most confusing part about that was what exactly was it about this wolf that made it look sentient. Now that she thought about it, it was something in the eyes. A certain grief that only a human could experience was to be found in those eyes. Plus it was possible for a werewolf to turn into a wolf. Her mother and sister were the only werewolves that she knew of, but their mother had always said that Derek had the potential. Then there were the blue eyes, and while any wolf could have blue eyes due to killing an innocent, those eyes carried far more grief and guilt than just any old wolf that had killed someone. She turned her gaze to meet Lizzy’s, and she was shocked to see the blush on her cheeks.

“This is amazing,” Elle told Lizzy breathlessly.

“Thanks,” Lizzy muttered, looking down at her shoes, as she shuffled her feet.

After a moment of silence, Elle opened her mouth to apologize, since this clearly was something that made her uncomfortable, but Lizzy beat her to it.

“My grandfather was a talented painter from Poland. He met my grandmother in Germany, after escaping from a concentration camp, and they fell in love while she was trying to smuggle him out of the country. Anyway, when I was born, she took one look at me at birth and called me Rotkäppchen – you know, the German name for Little Red Riding Hood –, so he painted this. He said that only a wolf would be able to tame me. It’s actually my middle name: Elizabeth Rotkäppchen Stillinski.”

“Seriously?! That’s so cool.”

Lizzy blushed again, and Elle couldn’t look away if she tried. The sight of her blushing was just so jarring that she couldn’t believe that this was really happening. She felt as if she was seeing a side of her that no one else did. Actually, she probably was getting to see exactly that. Her heart grew warm at the thought, and she reached out to hug her.

“Thanks,” Elle said.

When Lizzy went rigid in her arms, Elle could tell that she had caught her off guard, and she thought about pulling away for a moment, but she persisted. Lizzy eventually relaxed into the touch and asked, “For what?”

“For sharing that with me, it’s so nice to have someone tell me things. My brother isn’t exactly forthcoming with his – well, anything really.”

Lizzy burst out laughing and stated, “Have you tried asking him?”

Elle’s brow scrunched up as she thought about it. No, she hadn’t really asked Derek about anything. No one had. He’d kind of cut himself off from the family, but they weren’t exactly banging down the door trying to bring him back in. They had just kind of given him his space, figuring that he was just being Derek, but what if he interpreted the space they gave him as disinterest? What if he thought that she didn’t care about him anymore?

“Oh my god! How did I miss this?!” Elle exclaimed.

Lizzy snorted and replied, “It’s not as if he screams that he’s approachable and would be open with his feelings if you asked. He seems – guarded, as if he’s trying to keep it all inside and be ‘strong’ for everyone around him, while he’s really destroying himself from the inside out.”

“You got all that from meeting him for five minutes?” Elle questioned.

Lizzy shrugged and mumbled, “I’m familiar with the feeling.”


	6. Chapter 6

Elle seemed to be struggling with her relationship with her brother, and it was strange to Lizzy that she was having so much trouble understanding him. To her, he seemed so easy to read, but maybe, it was because she didn’t have the knowledge of who Derek was before - whatever it was that changed them forever - to distract her from who he was now. He felt so honest. She admitted that he wasn’t exactly forthcoming, but he didn’t seem like he had anything to hide, unlike the men that she had grown up around. All of her mother’s boyfriends had their own agendas and secrets, and she was just tired of people not being who they were. Derek let it show. He didn’t seem to care about what anyone, well mostly anyone, said or thought, and she could respect him for that.

Elle’s gaze never moved away from Lizzy, even when her head tilted to the side as if Lizzy were some kind of mystery that she was trying to figure out. Lizzy wondered briefly if this was how she looked at Derek. Elle suddenly ripped her eyes away from Lizzy, and her shoulders slumped. She seemed to be taking the revelation hard, as if she had failed as a sister by not interrogating her brother, and that certainly wasn’t Lizzy’s intention in telling her. She had hoped that it would improve the relationship between the two. Both of them seemed to blame themselves, and it just wouldn’t do.

“Am I going to have to drive to your brother’s place and drag him back here to talk to you? Because I’ll do it,” Lizzy stated in a serious tone.

Elle looked back up at Lizzy then, smiled and shook her head. She almost seemed to be muffling giggles.

“What’s so funny?”

“The thought of you dragging Derek out of his apartment by his ear is hilarious,” Elle replied while bursting into laughter.

It was nice to see Elle smiling, but Lizzy sternly said, “I’d do it.”

“I appreciate that,” she teased Lizzy slightly with a smirk on her face, but Lizzy could tell that Elle knew that she had meant it. Lizzy would have found a way.

The smile that crossed Elle’s lips was totally worth it, and Lizzy told her, “Look, I didn’t tell you that to make you feel bad. I told you that to help your relationship with your brother. You’ve known him much longer than I have, and you were just handling the situation the way that you knew how. Now, I have a cousin downstairs that is freaking out about you being in his house, and I’m sure that you two would really like to see each other and have some time to act like normal teenagers for a bit. Go flirt and have fun. Your brother wouldn’t want you up here feeling guilty instead of going after the guy that you want.”

Elle just shook her head at Lizzy and stated, “Alright Mom.”

Lizzy glared at her and threatened, “I could go tell my cousin right now that you two are crazy for each other if you would prefer.”

Her eyes were as wide as lacrosse balls as she yelled, “No!”

“That’s what I thought,” Lizzy responded with a smirk on her face.

“You’re still a mom,” Elle said under her breath.

“I heard that.”

Lizzy started to bolt out of the room and down the stairs to get downstairs first, and Elle sprang after Lizzy like a doe with a wolf at her heels. When they got downstairs, Lizzy ducked into the kitchen, whereas Elle ran into the living room, thinking that Lizzy had gone in to tell Stiles. As Lizzy imagined what Elle must look like – frozen in place with her cheeks flushed, she crept over to the wall to listen to what was happening. Scott quickly excused himself saying that he was feeling super hungry, and the next thing she knew Scott was crouched right behind her.

“So, um, why’d you sprint in here like that?” Stiles questioned hesitantly.

“I…um…I thought that…Lizzy had been teasing me about telling you, and I just kind of freaked out at the thought, because she came sprinting down here, but she must have gone somewhere else because I don’t see her, and oh my god! This was her plan all along to get me to panic so that I would tell you –”

Lizzy bet herself five bucks that Elle had just covered her mouth with her hand, but Lizzy would probably never know the answer.

“Tell me what?” he asked quietly after a couple of awkward moments of silence. Stiles never was very good at dealing with long breaks in conversation. Lizzy just shook her head at the two of them.

Under her breath she was rooting for her, “Come on Elle! You can do this!”

“That I like you,” Elle finally admitted almost inaudibly.

“You like ME?” Stiles squeaked.

Both Scott and Lizzy had their faces in the palms of their hands, completely crestfallen.

“Yeah, so?! It’s not that big of a deal!” Elle exclaimed with an edge to her voice, indicating that she was getting defensive.

“It is a big deal to me,” he confessed and continued with, “This is the first time that someone has actually liked me back.”

Despite herself, Lizzy’s heart kind of melted at the detectable vulnerability that was embedded in that last sentence.

“Are they hugging?” Lizzy whispered to Scott.

“Yeah, I can hear the slide of fabric against fabric. They’re definitely hugging,” he confirmed.

“Good,” Lizzy muttered, trying to sound exasperated, but based on the grin on Scott’s face, she was failing.

“You’re a good friend and sister,” he stated.

“Shut up,” Lizzy snapped.

“I love that you have this idea that you’re all dark and scary, when you’re like the nicest person that I have ever met. Hell, Elle even looks scarier than you do in her leather jackets. Face it, you take care of everyone, even more than Stiles does, and that’s saying something.”

“Scott?”

“What?” he answered.

“Shut up.”

It still didn’t wipe that annoying smirk off his face.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I'm pretty much the most inconsistent writer ever, but here's another chapter from Elle's perspective. It's very short, but I'm going to try to work on the chapter from Lizzy's perspective, and hopefully, get it out today.

****

As Elle stood there in Stiles’ arms, it felt like everything she had dreamed of and more. It was unlike hugging anyone that she had ever hugged before. She was able to wrap her arms completely around his waist, and he didn’t feel like he had to hold back. He was hugging her with everything he had: all of his warmth, feelings, strength, and enthusiasm. The last time she was able to be held like this was by her dad, and in that moment, she missed him so much, but she let Stiles’ scent comfort her, as she buried her face in his shoulder.

“You know, as much as I’m enjoying this, we’re going to have to join the others sooner or later.”

“Later,” she muttered.

He chuckled and replied, “I honestly have no idea why you would like me. This doesn’t even feel real.”

“Imagine how I feel. I’ve liked you for longer than you liked Lydia, and that better be liked and not like mister. I don’t share.”

She could practically hear his jaw drop, as she continued to cling to him.

“Wait a minute! Are you trying to tell me that you, the most gorgeous woman that I have ever seen, has liked ME for YEARS?!”

“I appreciate that you think I’m gorgeous.”

Elle took a peak at his expression, and he was rapidly opening and shutting his mouth.

Getting irritated, she snapped, “Is it really so hard for you to think that anyone would like you?! Yes, I have liked you for years. Get over it.”

Stiles just met her eyes and grinned.

“Has anyone told you that you’re cute when you get all defensive?”

“No!” she defended instantly.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Well for the record, yes, it is hard for me to believe that someone like you would want to be with someone like me, but I am totally not complaining. I mean if I thought Lydia was out of my league, then you were out of my universe.”

Elle couldn’t help the blush that colored her cheeks at those words, so she just buried her face again in his sweatshirt.

“Would you like to watch a movie?” Stiles suggested.

“Sure,” she mumbled from the folds in his sweatshirt.

He pulled backwards slightly, so he could look into her eyes when he asked if he could get her anything, while she picked out the movie. She nodded her head and mumbled something about coke. After he went to get it, she was thinking about how cute he was when she heard him gasping for air and complaining about how Scott was hugging him too hard. She didn’t even bother trying to hide the grin on her face as she approached the movie shelf. Elle brushed her finger over each binding until she found the movie that she was looking for – Captain America. It was one of her all-time favorites, and she knew that Stiles loved Marvel as well. Perfect.

The next thing she knew Scott was being pushed out of the house by Stiles. His rushed good bye, smug expression and brusque wave all painted the picture of a reluctant exit. Elle was rather surprised that he wasn’t kicking Lizzy out, but she guessed that Lizzy lived here, unlike Scott. He rushed back into the kitchen, lifting a finger as he passed to indicate one more minute. She rolled her eyes at his antics, but she put the movie in and curled up on the couch with a blanket, waiting for Stiles.

A moment later he burst into the room carrying a huge bowl of popcorn, a cup of coffee, and a coke. He looked at her, the chair on the side of the room, the other corner of the couch and back again, as if deciding what was appropriate. It made her smile that he didn’t know what he was doing either, so she pulled the blanket up and made room for him in the corner of the couch. His resulting smile was so adorable that her heart hurt, and she couldn’t bear to look up at him due to her embarrassment at her being so forward, but he seemed to like it. They were cuddling on the couch before she knew it, like it was something that they had always done. It was like something out of her best dreams, and she enjoyed it immensely until the door opened to reveal the sheriff. Luckily, he just raised an eyebrow at the sight on his couch and quickly moved into the kitchen, as if beckoned, which maybe he was, because it was a little hard to hear anything over her thundering heart. As if Stiles sensed her panic, he pulled her closer to him, squeezed her tighter, and muttered, “It’ll be fine. Lizzy will explain.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy with how this chapter turned out. Hopefully, you find it as funny as I thought it was fun to write. I just adore the sheriff. He's such a great father.

When the door opened, Lizzy knew that it was the sheriff getting home from work. Without looking up from the book in her hands, she quickly called for her uncle. It took him a moment to enter the kitchen after she had called, so she figured that he had taken a moment to take in the sight she was sure was on the couch – young love and all that entails. By the time he got into the kitchen, she had finished the page she was working on and was pushing her bookmark into the folds of the novel.

“Still working on Harry Potter in French?” he questioned. Every time he asked about it, he rolled his eyes and muttered about his crazy sister.

“Yes,” Lizzy responded, while taking a sip of her tea.

“I still don’t understand the point, although it does vaguely give me an idea of where you and my sister have been,” he remarked, as he made his way over to the fridge to get himself out a light beer, as Stiles would make any other beer disappear. This house was like the Bermuda triangle for all things that weren’t green, low calorie, or low carb. Thus, the light beer was all the sheriff could keep.

“Yes, my ability to read French narrows it down to mere curiosity or that I’ve been living somewhere in roughly 38 countries for a period of time. That really narrows it down.”

An annoyed expression crossed his features, as he exclaimed, “Don’t think that I find it a coincidence that you show up here a day after the Argents move here and are conveniently becoming fluent in French. The last time the Argents and the Hales were in this town there was a fire, and you just so happen to show up. I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“This sounds like a very elaborate conspiracy theory for someone my age. Now, are we going to talk about what you really want to ask about, or are you going to keep insulting my reading choices and inquiring into things that don’t involve you,” she stated, looking up at him from behind the brim of her mug. Her eyes found his exhausted yet warm celery green eyes that she always found comforting. The sandy hair on top of his head had a few more gray streaks, and his wrinkles were looking a little deeper these days. It’s understandable though, things have been a little crazy what with the school fight, the murdered woman, and the other murders that had been occurring lately that seemed to be the doing of an “animal.”

“Fine, keep your secrets, but you should know that I was voted sheriff of this damn town for a reason, and I don’t care what my sister is up to or what you’re up to on her behalf, because I know that you wouldn’t leave her side, if it weren’t an order. I’m going to find out what the hell is going on here.” he replied and sighed, while leaning against the refrigerator and running a hand over his face, “Do you want to explain what’s going on in there?”

“Stiles got himself a girlfriend,” she said and shrugged, as if it was an everyday occurrence.

“The Hale girl is his girlfriend?” he asked.

Lizzy raised her chin, as if she was pondering the question and responded, “Well not yet, but I’m pretty sure those two kids will work things out. I mean this is only their first date. They haven’t even kissed yet, so I guess you’re right. She’s not his girlfriend – yet.”

His eyes bulged a little, and he whispered, “What about Ly-, Lyria…, Ly-, you know, what’s her face?”

“Lydia Martin, uncle, and we both knew that that wasn’t really anything. It was just a…convenient infatuation that went on for far too long.”

My uncle collapsed into the chair on the other side of the table, as he unbuttoned a few of the ones at the top of his shirt, as if they were choking him, even though they were nowhere near his throat.

“How did this happen?”

She proceeded to explain to him what had happened that day, and the sheriff just shook his head back and forth in exasperation and muttered, “Someone has been busy today.”

“All in a good day’s work,” she enthused to let him know that she had heard him.

“And who made you cupid?”

“You all just need a little help.”

His expression went from mildly amused to positively petrified in five seconds flat, as he inquired, “And what, exactly, do you mean by you all?”

“Well now that I have Stiles hooked up, I can stop worrying about him, but that still leaves you and Scott. I haven’t found anyone in this town for Scott yet, but, mark my words, I will, even if he likes that Argent girl. She’s plenty nice. I just don’t trust her.”

“And what of me?”

“Oh, of course, you could only end up with Melissa. I mean come on, you two have been dancing around that whole deal for years. Since Stiles now has someone, I can start putting all of my energy into getting you two together, unless you want to save me the trouble and ask her out yourself.”

He glared at me from across the table and stated, “You’re evil.”

“On the contrary, Scott informed me earlier that I’m the nicest person that he has ever met, but I’ve been trying to tell people that for years. I’m glad that you see through to the real me, uncle. Regardless, the offer still stands, although you have a time limit. Either you ask Melissa out within the next 48 hours, or I start meddling.”

“Scott’s an idiot.”

“Don’t say such things about your future step son.”

He rolled his eyes and told her, “You need a hobby.”

She simply lifted the book up as a retort.

“A friend.”

Lizzy pointed over her shoulder into the living room and said, “I believe you two have met.”

His shoulders stiffened, eyebrows dropped and jaw clenched, as he stated, “A boyfriend then. Surely, there is someone in this confounded town that has caught your eye.”

“Ain’t nobody got time for that, least of all your local cupid. I got to make sure you kids have people to be with and are well taken care of first.”

“I don’t like you,” he stated petulantly.

“I know. You love me. Besides, there’s only one guy in this town that has caught my eye,” she replied in a sing-song voice, as she gathered her things, kissed him on the cheek and moved to go upstairs.

“Who?” he reluctantly dared to ask.

“Derek Hale.”

“Go to your room. I’m so sorry I asked,” he groaned.

“Already going, but this changes nothing. Your 48 hours start as of this moment.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he sassed, as he motioned with his hand for her to leave the room.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long. I had to change the perspective from first to third, because I realized that I was hiding stuff from you all about Lizzy in first person, so I had to change it. I'm really planning to reveal a lot about Lizzy in the next chapter.

When the movie was over, Elle reluctantly pulled out of Stiles’ arms. He was asleep on the couch, and his head rested on the couch’s armrest. His mouth was stretched wide open, and even though it probably should have been unattractive, she found the fact that he was drooling slightly unbelievably adorable.

“I need help,” she muttered to herself.

As she went to move the blanket to cover Stiles back up, she heard a chuckle from behind her. Her neck immediately snapped backwards to find the source, while still covering Stiles in an almost protective stance. She relaxed slightly when she came eye to eye with the sheriff. He leaned against the entrance to the room with his arms crossed over his chest. 

“So Lizzy tells me that you’re Stiles’ girlfriend,” he stated nonchalantly, too nonchalantly.

Elle responded with, “We haven’t exactly had that conversation yet.”

She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks, as he looked at her. There was an overwhelming urge for her to twitch under his gaze, but she stood fast. If she was lucky, then she would get this man as the father of her boyfriend, or, dear lord, did the words father-in-law just ambush her. Just as Mr. Stilinski was about to open his mouth to speak, she looked back at Stiles, who was sprawled across the couch, smiled and explained with the utmost sincerity, “Look, Mr. Stilinski, I know that you’re worried about your son, but I assure you that you have nothing to worry about. Stiles is loyal and kind, and those are only two of the things that I love about him, and yes, as crazy as it sounds, I love him. We haven’t exactly had that conversation either, so I’d prefer it if you kept that part of this conversation to yourself –”

“My god, you really are perfect for each other. I practically feel like I’m having a conversation with a female version of my son, and it suddenly makes sense why Lizzy likes you so much. Now, I’m sure your brother is worried, so I recommend that you go home, but you’re welcome any time in my home,” he said in full sincerity.

It was rather off putting really. Not that she had any experience whatsoever with meeting parents of significant others, but this was the last thing that she had expected – acceptance.

“Thank you,” she answered and went to gather her things before exiting the house. When she looked down at her phone and saw that she had a few messages from Derek, she sent a brief text saying that she was coming home. Then she shot a text to Stiles saying good night and another to Lizzy telling her that she would see her at school, if not sooner. 

When she got home, she half expected to find Derek sitting up on the couch, waiting for her, like a father, but he was nowhere to be seen. She looked throughout the place and called for him a couple of times. There was a twinge in her gut telling her that there was something wrong. This reminded her far too much of what had happened when Laura had gone missing. Thus she called Derek. As the phone rang, she kept praying that he would pick up the phone. After she tried calling him again and again, until she lost count of the number of times that she had called her brother, she decided to call Lizzy. Who else was she going to call? Luckily, Lizzy picked up after the first ring.

Before Lizzy could say anything, Elle exclaimed, “I think something has happened to Derek.”

“I’ll be right there. Just stay put.”


	10. Chapter 10

After Lizzy had received the phone call, she pushed aside the case file that was poured out all over her lap. Pictures of the burnt house caught her eye as she moved to grab her keys. Once those were recovered, she pushed a gun, a pair of handcuffs, a badge, a Taser, a pack containing both wolfsbane bullets and normal ones, and finally, a flashlight into various pockets and pouches that were attached to her belt. Lizzy then grabbed her phone again and called Scott, explaining that she needed his help and would meet him with the car. When the phone call was over, she pulled on a red hoodie and stuffed her phone into the pocket. She then turned to the window. Eventually, she decided that sneaking out this way was a very bad idea, so she made her way out of the room, shutting the door behind her with a small creaking sound. Next was creeping down the stairs and getting past Stiles. There was a moment where she thought about just waking him up to allow him to comfort Elle in her moment of panic and just as she was about to step through the door, she heard, “And just where do you think you’re going?”

Her eyes shut, and she cursed herself, as she turned to see Stiles getting up from the couch.

“It’s nothing. Go back to sleep.”

“In your dreams,” he responded, “unless you want me to let Dad know what you’re up to.”

Lizzy groaned. She didn’t have time for this right now. Scott and Elle were both waiting for her.

“Fine! Derek’s missing, and Lizzy’s worried,” she stated, letting it sink in.

“You think Argent took him?” he questioned.

“I don’t know.”

“I’m still pissed that I had to find out what you are because of Scott.”

“Could we not talk about this right now? We need to get Scott and Lizzy. You need to do your whole comforting boyfriend routine, alright?”

“Elle’s going to have questions.”

“I know,” Lizzy grumbled, but they snuck into her car. It was a very inconspicuous car and had great gas mileage. She’d dubbed it Saphira the moment she saw its bright blue exterior and heard the engine roar. The thing she loved most about the car was the manual transmission, especially in times like this. She didn’t even bother to turn the car on. Instead, she put the car in neutral, pushed the button on the emergency break and lowered it quietly. The car silently slid down the driveway, and she manipulated the wheel until she was backed out of the driveway and well down the street before she started the car and flipped on the lights. Stiles looked at her a little awe struck, and she questioned, “What?”

“You never fail to surprise me. Everyone thinks you look like some nice, little girl, but I get to know the real you,” he answered with his eyes all bright.

Lizzy just rolled her eyes and turned up her radio. There was a pull in her gut. She didn’t feel like they were too late, but she felt that it would be soon, and it gave an urgency to her movements that wasn’t there before. They slid to a slow stop in front of Scott’s house, and he jumped into the car. Then, they all sped off to get Elle. When they found Elle, she was sitting on the stoop in front of the place she shared with her brother, looking pale, a little lost, but overall pretty unemotional. Lizzy guessed that having lived through as much tragedy as Elle had, she was quite good at swallowing her feelings.

“Stiles, go be with her. Scott and I are going to find him. Tell her that we’re going to find him. I promise,” she uttered with the utmost sincerity.

Stiles exited the car and ran up to Elle. He pulled her into his arms instantly, and his long, gentle fingers swept underneath her chin to make her look at him as he spoke. His thumbs brushed over her cheekbones, back and forth. When she seemed to get some of her color back, he looked at Lizzy and gave a nod, as he pulled Elle back into her home. Lizzy actually felt better about having brought Stiles now, because she knew that Elle was going to be taken care of. Scott simply crawled into the passenger seat and made a motion for them to move.

“Do you remember his scent?” Lizzy asked Scott,

He gave her a stiff nod, as he allowed his features to shift. The windows were down, and she drove slow in order let him get a scent.

“Why do you care so much?” Scott whispered.

“Just concentrate,” she snapped, and he returned to smelling the air.

After five minutes of driving around to no prevail, Scott shifted back to his human form and finally admitted, “I’m sorry to say this Liz, but I’m not getting anything. It’s not like I know the guy real well either, so unless you have an idea of where he would go. Then we’ve got nothing. How do we know anything bad has happened anyway?”

Lizzy roughly swept a hand over her face in frustration, and she hit the steering wheel.

“My mom called not long after you left and told me that the Argents had called for backup to help them deal with the alpha.”

“So more hunters?”

“More hunters,” she agreed.

All the sudden pictures of the burnt house flashed before her eyes, and she asked Scott, “As a werewolf, if you were injured, where would you go?”

“Somewhere safe.”

“Precisely.”

Scott looked over at her with a raised brow and questioned, “I guess you have an idea then?”

Lizzy didn’t bother to answer, as she drove in the opposite direction than the way that they had been going – towards the preserve. She knew that no one would know those woods as well as the person who used to live in them, and Derek was probably one of the last people to really know that forest. That fact had to make him feel safe. Her foot pushed down on the pedal a little harder at this thought, and she saw the look that Scott was giving her out of the corner of his eye. When they pulled up in front of the barely standing house that probably used to be breathtaking, she came to a sudden stop using the emergency break and quickly exited the car. She brutally stuffed her keys into her pocket, and pulled out her flashlight and her handgun. They were held straight out in front of her, as Scott shifted next to her.

“I’ve got something,” he said, as he sniffed at the air.

“Find him. I’ll follow.”

Scott let out a howl to signal to Derek that they were coming for him, and they ran into the trees. They were deep into the woods when Lizzy felt something. A shiver went down her spine, and she turned to see a gun thrust into her face.

“Lizzy,” the voice exclaimed.

“Kate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm debating on doing Elle's perspective or continuing in Lizzy's perspective in the next chapter. By the way, I'm completely aware that I kind of left you all on a huge cliffhanger here, but it felt like the proper place to end the chapter. Let me know if you have an opinion, have any guesses about Lizzy or just want to share. Thank you so much for the comments that I have received so far. I really appreciate the fact that there are people that are reading this and enjoying it.


	11. Chapter 11

“Elle,” Stiles called out to her.

She was searching the kitchen for something to make him, but then she felt arms wrap around her waist and pull her closer to his body and away from the latest cabinet that she had been ransacking.

“What are you doing?” Stiles asked quietly, attempting to meet her gaze, but she would quickly look away each time he got a glimpse at her face.

He sighed; pulled her closer to him, tucking his chin over her shoulder; and prepared himself to wait for her to talk, even though it went against every instinct he had that said to talk.

“I was looking for the measuring cups,” she mumbled, finally relaxing in his grip.

“Why?” he whispered.

“Because I was going to make you pumpkin muffins with cream cheese filling,” she explained.

Stiles just looked up at the ceiling, as Elle looked at the floor, but he just shook his head and spun her around. Then he placed his finger under her chin, like he had done earlier to get her to look at him. She didn’t fight it, and eventually his eyes found hers.

With all the sincerity that he could muster, he stated, “I’m sure that those muffins would be fantastic, and I would be beyond thrilled to eat them and unbelievably flattered that you would take the time to make them for me. However, my job here is to take care of you, so let me take care of you. Now, I warn you that I have no idea what I’m doing whatsoever, so you’re probably going to have to help me with the whole figuring out how to take care of you thing. Just know that if you want to talk about anything that I’m here for you.”

“I’m just so worried about Derek. He’s all I have.”

“I know, especially given your family’s history.”

“No, you don’t know! You don’t have any idea of the sort of trouble that he’s in, and I can’t help him. I probably shouldn’t have dragged your cousin into this, but I didn’t know who else to call.”

Stiles looked down at Elle, and she watched as his features contorted into this very uncomfortable look on his face. One of his hands left her waist to find the back of his neck and scratch a little. His shoulders tensed, and he opened his mouth to say something, but he decided against it and snapped his mouth shut. Elle’s gaze turned curious, and her brows scrunched together in confusion. Her eyes seemed to ask what was going on, and he caved.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he started, and when she didn’t even try to respond, he continued, “I know about your brother and Scott. They’re werewolves, and yes, I know about the Argents, and how they’re hunters. Lizzy isn’t just your standard issue teenage girl either, as I’m sure you’ve picked up on, and that so isn’t my story to tell, so I’ll let her explain that one, but the point is that I know. You don’t have to hide anything from me.”

Elle sputtered a little at the revelation. She’d spent her entire life keeping that a secret, and now, just when she finally made friends and got what could be a boyfriend, they already knew. It was kind of as much a relief as it was a shock.

“So Lizzy was the right person to call?” Elle questioned meekly.

Stiles just smiled and told her, “Yes, Lizzy was absolutely the right person to call.”

Then Stiles heard his phone ringing, and he picked it up with a hello.

“The good news is we found Derek, the bad news is that he’s been shot with a wolfsbane bullet, and the even worse news is that Kate is in town. We’re bringing him to the house. I don’t trust their place anymore, so bring clothes and all the things that they will need,” he heard Lizzy say and then the line went dead.


	12. Chapter 12

“Where’s Derek?” Lizzy demanded.

Kate just smirked and looked into her eyes, as she stated, “Is this what the council sends out these days – teenage girls with no team?”

“Maybe the council has that much faith in me, or they don’t think that you’re really worth sending an army after,” Lizzy replied in a mocking tone.

“Oh you’ll need an army,” Kate challenged and got into Lizzy’s face.

In that moment, Derek came crashing through the trees and bushes. He was barely able to stand or walk in his state, and he looked sick, as he fell in front of Lizzy, holding onto her, covering her body with his, and effectively creating a wall between Lizzy and Kate. Lizzy buckled her knees under the weight and made sure that Derek was secure before looking back to where Kate was, but now, she could only see the branches swaying where she had escaped. Lizzy had to fight down the urge to run after her and instead let out a growl in frustration, but her attention quickly switched to Derek. There was no way that she was going to be able to support his weight for much longer, and she could tell that Derek was trying to bear as much of his weight as he could. She slowly lowered them to the ground into a sitting position, and when they finally made it to the ground, she pushed at Derek’s shoulders to get him to lie down. He just shook his head, held her in his arms and continued to act as a shield. It simultaneously confused and frustrated Lizzy.

“I need to look at your injuries,” Lizzy told him gently but with an edge of force.

Once again, he shook his head.

“Please,” she pleaded.

This time he hesitated a moment before shaking his head again, and she sighed in exasperation.

“Scott!” she screamed, and he flinched.

A few moments later, Derek tensed, and she knew that Scott was coming this way. They were so going to have to work on his tracking skills.

“Sorry, Derek’s scent was kind of in circles. Like he was…” Scott trailed off in his sentence.

“Being hunted,” Derek stated, and then moved to the side, but maintained a hold on Lizzy, and coughed up black blood. Despite her training, Lizzy began to panic a little bit.

He roughly scraped the blood off of his chin with the back of his hand and then said, “I’m fine.”

“Oh yeah, you’re completely fine! It’s an everyday occurrence that you cough up black blood. What was I thinking?” she retaliated and then, in her irritation, yelled at Scott, “Can you help me get him up and to the car? We need to call the other two.”

Scott placed one of Derek’s arms around his neck, while Derek clutched his abdomen with the other hand, as Lizzy called Stiles and explained everything that was going on. She had hung up by the time that they made it to her car, and she couldn’t believe she was doing this, but she unlocked her car and then opened the back door to get inside. Scott seemed to catch onto what she was trying to do, because he pulled Derek’s arm from around his neck and placed his hand on Lizzy’s shoulder. Scooting over, she pulled Derek into the car. When they settled, Derek stayed close to her in the backseat and barely maintained his composure. This only served to annoy Lizzy, and she pushed him to lie down. His head was pillowed on her lap, but she refused to touch him otherwise. His comfort was more important, and this way gravity wasn’t pulling more blood from his body.

“I know what kind of bullets Kate likes to use, and I have some at home. It’s not a strain that I personally use,” she assured him.

Lizzy was sure that Derek knew that she and Kate had a personal relationship, and that there was some serious hostility between them. She was pretty sure that he had to have heard the conversation that they had been having before he threw himself in front of her, which, now that she thought about it, why did he do that?

“Thank you,” she muttered.

She then looked down in time to watch as her words registered. His eyes snapped open, and his mouth opened to ask her a question. She naturally knew what he was going to ask and shook her head.

“Don’t talk. You’ll lose more blood, and Elle needs you alive. Besides, I know that you’re going to ask me what I’m thanking you for, and I’m thanking you for protecting me, even though I have no idea why you would do that, and for…giving me time. It’s been a long time since I last saw Kate, and I wasn’t ready, so thank you.”

He seemed to accept this explanation, and she looked up to meet Scott’s eyes in the mirror. Scott looked at her with questioning eyes, and she just gave him a look that said later. This seemed to satisfy him, and he continued to drive. They pulled into the driveway in front of the sheriff’s house, and Scott helped her maneuver Derek out of the car. Once they got him settled in the living room floor, she shot off upstairs and reached underneath her bed. She roughly pulled the box out, snapped the lid open and fumbled to get a grip on one of the bullets. Then she dashed across the room to her duffel bag and grabbed a lighter out of one of the pockets. After she grabbed a towel and scissors, she went back downstairs but turned into the kitchen. She opened the bullet and let its insides slip out onto the counter. Even though she knew that she was going to have to come up with a hell of an explanation for the counter, she took her lighter and set fire to the wolfsbane. She then gathered the ash that remained and pushed it into a small dish and went back to Derek’s side.

Derek looked up at her as she grabbed the scissors and started to cut open his shirt. When the shirt was open, she cupped her hand, poured the wolfsbane into the palm of her hand, shoved his hand off of his wound and pushed the ash into his wound. His back arched, his teeth gnashed together, and his eyes screwed shut in reaction to the pain, but she kept her hand over the wound no matter how he moved. All the sudden, Derek was completely healed, and even though she knew he would be, she still carefully moved her hand and inspected the sight where the wound was just seconds before.

“Thank you,” she heard, and her gaze snapped up to meet his through her lashes. The urge to hug him was making its presence known, but the moment was soon interrupted by Stiles and Elle’s arrival. She moved to clean up instead and went into the kitchen as Elle screamed at Derek about how irresponsible he was and proceeded to hug him. Lizzy just shook her head at her friend. Not that she was much different. She was so stuck in her own thoughts that she didn’t even hear it when Stiles entered the kitchen.

“You okay?” he simply asked.

Lizzy nodded and gave him a small smile, as she questioned, “How is she?”

“She’ll be fine. She’s a tough cookie that one,” he stated and chuckled, while scratching the back of his neck.

She knew what it meant and said, “Ask what you’re going to ask.”

“You’re going to tell them right.”

Lizzy leaned against the counter with her arms crossed over her chest, as she admitted, “I don’t think I have much choice.”


	13. Chapter 13

Derek stiffened in Elle’s arms, leaving Elle to wonder what it was that he had heard. Her mind swam with questions for her friend, as she held her brother.

“We’re going to have a very long conversation about safety mister,” she muttered, as she searched the room for Stiles. She only found the slumping form of a half-asleep Scott lying on the couch, so she figured that he must be with Lizzy. Elle concluded that Derek must be overhearing their conversation. Derek loosened his hold on her, and she took that as an indication that the two Stilinskis were entering the room. She tucked herself in a corner and watched as Stiles didn’t even hesitate to join her. He simply wrapped his body around hers, and it was hard for her to believe that this level of comfort was between them this quickly, especially considering that they hadn’t even kissed yet. A slight blush colored her cheeks, and her brother turned and raised an eyebrow at her.

That is, until Lizzy made a coughing noise, and suddenly, all eyes were on her. Her posture was rigid with anxiety, and her lips were pursed. She looked like she wanted to become one with the wall behind her. It fascinated Elle that someone so strong and sure of themselves when in one-on-one conversation could be so shy in front of a crowd, and it wasn’t even a crowd of strangers, but she guessed that Lizzy wouldn’t be having this Q&A session with strangers. Elle knew that Lizzy hated talking about herself. After all, knowledge is power.

Lizzy wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes, as she stated, “So I guess you all have some questions for me.”

Then something happened that Elle didn’t think that she would ever see. Derek got up and made Lizzy look at him, as he told her, “You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to tell us.”

Then he went and sat on the couch where Scott was sitting wide awake at this point. Derek looked ever the sourpuss that he always did, but he didn’t seem to like Lizzy’s anxiety. He looked every bit as uncomfortable as Lizzy, but Lizzy just shook her head and straightened her stance. She seemed to be getting some of her color back and certainly her composure.

“No, you all deserve to know. I guess it all starts with my mother, well our grandmother really. During World War II, Hitler wasn’t only targeting Jews for genocide. He was also looking for creatures, especially humans with extra abilities such as druids or emissionaries. Our grandmother was a part of an effort made by what is vaguely known as the Council to most people. Her mission was to get as many creatures out of Germany and the surrounding countries as possible. This is how she met grandfather. He was a very talented painter, but his paintings were mainly just an expression of the visions that he had of the future. It was his way of giving prophecies.

Grandmother found him in a camp, where he had drawn a picture of her face on the side of one of the concrete walls that made up the camp’s housing using a rock. She always said that the drawing nearly brought her to her knees, and she knew that she had to get him out of there, so she posed as a foreign diplomat that had specific interests in the man and took him into her custody. Forgery was one of grandmother’s many talents. Apparently, she forged Hitler’s signature on his release documents. After she had broken him out, she fell in love with him and knew that she couldn’t leave him, so she broke all ties with the Council and came here to the United States with grandfather, and they had two children. My mother and your father were raised to be aware of the supernatural, but they were not raised to fear them, just to be aware of their presence.

Your father, Stiles, showed no abilities in the supernatural world, and he completely turned his back on that world when he met and fell in love with your mother. My mother, on the other hand, met a hunter named Dean Winchester, who she fell in love with after he saved her from some sort of creature that I can’t remember. The next thing she knew she was pregnant with me, and Dean was leaving town. She never got to tell him that she was pregnant before he left, so she lost him. My mother wanted me to grow up in a normal home, so we spent the first few years of my lift living with Stiles’ mother and father. After that, she went after him, and when she couldn’t find him, she started hunting herself. With her gift of foresight that she had inherited from her father, she became very successful, and the Council took an interest. Now, the Council is known by many names Angels of Justice, the Council of the Appeasers, the Peace Keepers, the Amazons, etc.”

“The Amazons?!” Stiles croaked.

Lizzy smiled for a minute and nodded, before she continued, “The Council’s main job is to uphold the code, and since hunters believe that their sons are supposed to be trained as soldiers and their daughters are to be trained as leaders, it is made up completely of women – hence, the name the Amazons. They protect the innocent creatures that walk this earth and will send hunters if there is a disaster involving creatures. Another thing that they do is chose who will be the matriarch of the old hunting families, such as the Argents. If you all have ever wondered why Kate never became the matriarch of her family, you’re looking at her.

My mother moved swiftly up the ranks in the Council, and we traveled a lot during this time. Not that we ever really stopped traveling, but as the council saw more of my mother, they saw more of me. Thus, they discovered my ability. Unlike my mother, I was not given the gift of foresight but rather the gift of empathy. Empaths, especially ones with my abilities, are very rare and are heavily sought after by the Council. As I can not only tell you what someone is feeling but why they are feeling that way, and it is not only people that I am able to read but places. Therefore, I can tell you what crimes were committed at a crime scene, which man did what, who was innocent, and a lot more.

Because of my abilities, I was given a lot of power in the Council from a very young age. One of my very first assignments was to indicate if Kate would be the appropriate choice as the next matriarch, because her mother was becoming ill. At this time, Chris had just married a woman from a much smaller hunting family who was third in line to be matriarch of her own clan. I was also supposed to evaluate her for the position. If I found Kate to be an inappropriate fit, then Chris’s wife would be the next in line for the title. I lived in France and became quick friends with everyone, but Kate became my mentor. She acted like she saw me for more than just my gift.

After a few months, Kate’s mother died, and then I had to evaluate each woman. My powers are triggered by direct skin to skin contact, and I can see as much or as little as I wish. However, my job was to probe these women, so I dove into Kate’s subconscious, past and feelings. I couldn’t see very many memories, because I got so caught up in her emotions and feelings of disgust towards creatures. If this woman were given power, she would use it to take out every creature that she could, so I chose Chris’s wife to take the post. She never forgave me, and when I was assigned my first team about six months ago, I lost all of my men in a freak ‘accident.’ I couldn’t prove that she had done it, but after that, I refused to work with a team.

Word came that the Hales had returned to Beacon Hills after the fire, and I was to make sure that they were settling in and to protect them, especially when the Council caught wind that the Argents’ matriarch was settling into the area. I volunteered, because it seemed like an easy job that did not require a team at the time. My assignment at first was to protect two werewolves and a human. It was easy to convince the Council with my ties to the area, my ties to the Argents and my age made me a prime candidate for no one suspecting what I was here to do. I also thought that it would be a good opportunity to see Kate again and to bring her to justice, so here I am.”

They all sat there frozen in shock, but Elle broke the silence, “So did you know who I was when you met me? Did you become friends with me because you wanted to or because of your mission?”

Lizzy shook her head and answered, “No, I didn’t know who you were when I met you. The mission was so last minute, and we had only just gotten notification of your sister’s death while I was on the plane here, and then the rogue alpha took priority in my assignments. They wanted to send a team in after me, but I refused. I said that I would handle it on my own, and you can only imagine how unhappy I was when uncle made me go to high school. I hadn’t been in a formal school setting since my mother had become an official on the Council, and my abilities were found out. Interacting with that many human beings is a little overwhelming, and I admit the day that I met you I was just worried about my cousin here. When I found out who you were, I only took more of an interest in our friendship, but otherwise, you were already my friend the moment you walked me to my first class.”

“That’s why you weren’t freaked out by Derek when you two first met. I knew there had to be something different about you,” Elle exclaimed.

Lizzy grinned but quickly started frowning again, when she apologized, “I’m so sorry that I failed to protect your sister. I promise that I will do everything I can to find that rogue alpha, but now that Kate knows I’m in town, I should be expecting a visit from the Argents. They will want me to help them with finding the rogue alpha. Luckily, I can help to shift the attention from you and Derek.”

After this heavy conversation, Scott went home, but Lizzy insisted that everyone stay at the house. Stiles led Elle to Lizzy’s room, where she borrowed some clothes. Then she snuck across the hall to be with Stiles and curled up with him in bed.

“How are you doing with all those revelations about your family?” Elle asked Stiles.

“It’s a bit of a shock really,” he muttered.

“Do you think everything is going to be okay?”

Stiles tightened his grip on Elle and said, “I don’t know. All I know is that I trust Lizzy. If she says that she’s got this, then she’s got this.”

“I trust you and Lizzy,” Elle mumbles, and Stiles just squeezes her tighter and kisses her on the forehead in response.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to write this. I was on vacation, and there were some complications that arose. Anyways, I'm not totally happy with the way this chapter is written, and there may be some grammatical errors or awkward sentences. I just felt bad about going MIA for so long, so I thought I'd go ahead and put it out there.

Derek found his way to Lizzy’s room, and he softly knocked on her door.

“Come in,” she yelled over the song “Wildest Dreams” by Taylor Swift.

The image that he walked in on was…unexpected. For a moment, Lizzy looked like any other teenage girl. Her hair was up in a messy, loose bun that left some of her curls brushing over her shoulder, and she wore a sports bra under an off the shoulder tunic with a pair of black leggings. As she turned to look at him, he could only see the openness in her expression, and then he saw the gun in her hands that she was cleaning meticulously. It was almost disorienting, and he couldn’t shake himself out of this daze. There was no way that this girl was real.

“What can I do for you Derek?” she asked as she slipped in the magazine until it made a clicking sound and made sure the safety was on before placing it back under her bed. She wiped her fingers with the cloth, as she approached him and stated, “After all, you aren’t here to look at me.”

“How would you know?” he retorted with a slight snarl to his tone.

“Well I stand corrected, if that’s the case, but I’m rarely wrong. Don’t look too long though, because I’m already self-conscious enough.”

He raised an eyebrow in response, as if asking a question. She just snorted, shook her head and said, “You don’t want to hear that story. Besides, I’m not quite ready to bare any more of my soul tonight, so you’re just going to have to live with that question. Now, Derek, what did you come for?”

“Why were you sent here to protect the Hales?” he asked curiously.

“Didn’t I say that I requested it, and I was sent because the Argents were coming here?” she answered too quickly. Her heart beat consistently, and he knew it wasn’t a lie, but the quickness of her answer made it sound rehearsed.

“You can both request something and be sent to do the task. Also, I do not feel that it is the whole truth.”

“Touché. However, I’m surprised that you don’t remember my mother. She spoke of you and your mother often.”

“Wait, so you are…?”

“The girl that you were supposed to marry? Yes, Derek, we are one in the same. I didn’t realize it until after I talked to my mother when she called to tell me that more hunters were being called to the front by the Argents. I told her of my findings about the fire and that I suspected that Kate had something to do with it, but I could not find a motive for taking out your pack specifically. It’s a long way to travel from France to Beacon Hills, don’t you think? And then she told me. Believe me when I say, I did not realize that Kate would be among them, but I admit that I half hoped, half dreaded her presence.”

“Wait, how old were you when you were assigned to the case where you named Chris’s wife the matriarch?” he asked.

“Twelve, nearly thirteen.”

“So it was five years ago?”

“Yes…”she confessed and couldn’t make eye contact.

“Was Kate using me to get back at you? Did my family burn alive because she didn’t get to be the matriarch?!”

“I will not know for sure until I have touched her, but I do not see it to be out of her character to commit such a crime. Not many hunters knew of the arrangement between our families, so my mother thinks it may be a coincidence, but I may have told her. Forgive me if I did tell her that I had a fiancé. I was just so…fascinated by the thought of you.”

Her face flushed at the confession, but Derek could detect no lie, as he questioned, “Why would you be interested in me? Most people are not thrilled at the idea of an arranged marriage nor do they romanticize it.”

Lizzy scrunched up her brow, and her lips tightened, as if she was thinking deeply about her answer.

“You must understand that I grew up differently than most other children that were in an arranged marriage. I had both a mother and a grandfather with the gift of foresight. The tricky thing about foresight is that there are some things that are destined to happen, but as our decisions change and those of others as well, they affect our futures. My mother didn’t know that Kate would try to murder your entire family. She simply knew that you would one day be mine and had hoped by arranging the marriage that it would bring us together sooner, so that I would be safe. You see, she fought me on taking my first case. She even protested against the Council, because she knew that my life would be in danger after I chose Chris’s wife to be the matriarch and not Kate. Meanwhile, I know now that you probably resented the union, because you were in love with Paige at the time. Yes, I know of her. My mother told me what you did to try and keep her.”

“How could you still be in love with me after she told you that?” he roared.

She quickly answered, “Because I naively hoped that you would love me not only as much as you loved her but even more than her. Now please don’t ask any more of me. I have never revealed so much about myself in one day, and I already felt vulnerable before I confessed all these sins that I did not mean to commit. Just let this rest for now. I promise I will give you more answers later.”

Derek nodded slightly and crossed his arms in front of his chest. She looked absolutely exhausted with her droopy, tear-filled eyes and slumped shoulders. It wasn’t his right to touch her, even though they had been engaged once. He had already worried about what she would think of him when she knew his deepest, darkest secret from as little as a few flits of her fingers over his skin, but for her to reveal that she already knew them without even touching him, it nearly gutted him, especially when she still treated him with such kindness. There was a reason why he had never told anyone, and now, there was no way that someone like her would ever love someone like him, someone that got their entire family killed for a woman that never really loved him. A woman that only used him to get back at the girl he was engaged to marry, and now he had not only been used and damaged by her enemy, but he had touched and loved her enemy.

He barely stopped his claws from popping out at the thought of his shame, and he walked away, leaving her there sobbing into her arms, even though her sobs caused him physical pain and his wolf to cry. She was his mate, and he didn’t deserve her. He was too stupid to wait for her and had hoped that the woman that had betrayed them both was his mate after who he thought was the love of his life had died. No, there was no way a girl that strong and kind was his mate. The universe had to have made some kind of a mistake.


	15. Chapter 15

As Lizzy watched him walk away through her tear blurred vision, she instinctively reached out to Derek mentally. The emotions punched her in the stomach, and all of the air whooshed out of her lungs from the mere force of feelings that invaded her body: guilt, self-hatred, disgust, desire, admiration, grief, etc. Memories flitted too fast in front of her for her to make anything of them. She was so full of emotions that she couldn’t breathe. How Derek kept all these feelings under wraps she would never understand. He was containing a tsunami in that body of his, and she was caught in the middle of it. Usually she would just have to pull her hand away to make it stop, but this time she was using her powers without physical contact. There was no way to make it stop that she knew of, and if she had been able to feel her own feelings, that fact would have terrified her. Suddenly, concern, panic, and a fierce need to protect became the only emotions encompassing her consciousness. The memories were slower this time and much more vivid.

One that was centered around a dark-haired girl that had a beauty mark under her left eye. She kind of looked like how Lizzy had imagined a teenage Snow White would look, especially considering how weak she looked in the strong arms that were supporting her. All she could feel was Derek’s fear, remorse, regret, and love. Lizzy guessed that this was Paige, Derek’s first love. Then he was consumed by insecurity and flashes of Kate ran for a little bit. How she had treated him, and how she didn’t really love him. How he didn’t even realize that she didn’t love him back. There were memories of their bodies twisting together, and then her shoving him away afterwards despite his desire to just be held. Then feelings of self-hate took over but regret was ever present. A memory of the fire was next, and she watched through his eyes as he looked at the burnt out shell that stood where his home once sat. The remnants still smoking in the sunlight, and the lingering smell of burnt flesh and death were enough to make his stomach twist. He felt nauseous and slightly numb. On top of that, he could smell Kate’s scent mixed in with the accelerant and knew that she had to have done this to his home, to his family. The guilt was nearly unbearable. It was so heavy a burden.

Then the guilt transformed into fear. Lizzy had thought that she had felt it before, deep in her bones, but this fear in Derek felt almost marrow deep. It fringed on painful. She was struck by his ability to feel this kind of terror and still breathe much less move or get out of bed in the morning, and she felt it as he fought for control over his emotions and thoughts, because he seemed to be embarrassed by his emotions, and all the sudden she was capable of feeling her own feelings because all she felt was a sadness that hit her heart so deeply it resonated throughout her entire being. It soon turned to rage, as she felt that no one should feel ashamed of feeling something so strongly when they had been through as much as Derek had. Finally, she was able to break out of this zone that she was in just because of the strength of her own emotions. It was so strong that she almost felt that she had pushed them outwards, and based on the look of shock that she found in Derek’s eyes once she opened her own, she believed that she had sent her emotions to him somehow.

“Did I just?” she croaked.

He nodded and continued to stare at her with wide eyes.

“Well that’s new,” she stated, attempting to relieve the tension with the joke. When she looked at him again, she realized that he didn’t grow up with the ability to feel others emotions, while she had grown up with it. She had felt her mother’s emotions when she was in the womb, because there was never a time in her life where she didn’t feel other people’s emotions once she came into contact with them. This was the first time that she had ever been able to reach out to someone mentally. Not to mention the whole sending her own feelings, but since it was Derek, and he was apparently the man that she was meant to be with, it didn’t shock her as much as it should have. The urge to hold him became too much, and she pulled his head to her chest.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered into his hair, as she began slipping her fingers through the silky locks.

“For what?” he asked.

“For everything. If not for me, the worst thing that would have ever happened to you would have been the loss of Paige, and that was horrible enough, because of me, you lost your entire family, including Laura, and I know you blame yourself, but I really feel that it’s my fault, and now, on top of that, I just gave you my feelings, which I know can be overwhelming, if not all consuming. Plus, I invaded your thoughts and feelings. I’m…just so sorry I can’t even put it into words.”

“It’s okay,” he mumbled into her chest.


End file.
